Web Based Drawing Automation

@UE_14591278

Thanks - I think the main problem you are struggling with is… context. Your high level objectives are totally possible IF you are structured to get the desired outputs.  THIS IS KEY.  If you don’t have good modeling and drafting standards (model orientations, view names, dimensioning schemes, GD&T structured properly, and drawing templates well defined, etc.) then you will struggle to get to a quality and repeatable result.

Can you automate the 2D drawings from 3D parts/assemblies?  Sure - drawing templates being referenced as a looped process or each model in session is easy (simple example in like 10-20 lines of CREOSON code - maybe less in Nitro-CELL).  But this will likely not produce a 100% desired output, maybe 70% there on a first attempt, then your data edge cases start to show up and you can tweak your code (add more code) to get to the 90% range.   In the end - you will likely have some manual clean up for things like dimension placements, adding breakout views, adding overall dimensions that were not anticipated, BOM balloons, etc.  So it is not a perfect solution or approach - regardless of the tools involved - as the source content is likely not going to be aligned.

The GD&T side of the coin is the most constraining - Pro/TOOLKIT/ObjectToolkit is typically required to get into those specific aspects of automation with Creo Parametric. I am pretty sure that this is an optional purchase in addition to ObjectTookit (at least it was years ago - so something else to consider). Generally speaking, it does NOT make the most sense to go that direction because GD&T is really about form/fit/function tolerance controls - based on the design intent and interfaces - ahem… the design intent.  So GD&T should be more appropriately defined in the model then shown on the drawings (not created on the drawings).

The best automation processes start before the models and drawings are created. Specifically to plan and anticipate what data is needed and how it will get to the final state (reliably).  Then you trust Creo Parametric to do what it does well as a parent/child pass through to results at scale (e.g. part orientations, dimension layout/scheme, tolerances defined, etc. all targeted to the desired end state - a drawing that does not require a lot of cleanup and is accurate to manufacture from).

So yes - CREOSON can for sure automate the generation of drawings in a loop over models in session.  Drawing Templates (even though they are limited in options) are your fiend for speeding this up; and you will likely require multiple drawing templates based on the size/orientations of the parts/assemblies, and display requirements (e.g. BOM tables, etc.).

Without good standards established for models and drawings - worst case you are working with STEP files, or models that were not modeled like you need to inspect them or are divergent from the actual design intent - everything becomes radically harder to automate.  Sure you can generate a stack of drawings in this case, but there will be no dimensions or GD&T to “show” -- so everything gets manual after a quick execution to get a stack of drawings initially created.

You can automate to a point - but that point is limited by how well you structured/planned for it.

That all being said, it also depends on WHY you are trying to do this… If the objective is to “generate drawings” with dimensions, tolerances, and GD&T it may be easier to look at 3rd party tools that are using AI to streamline some of that - note: you will still have to do work to validate/input tolerances, notes, etc.  But if you want to stay in the PTC stack to preserve associations - it is a harder walk to create and manage (edge cases will keep you in a state of constant code refinement and support most likely).

Dave